Manager Changes - December 2006 Morley UK Equity
UK fund manager Morley Fund Management has appointed Richard Colwell to a newly created position of high alpha UK equity fund manager. This brings to five the number of newly created fund managers Morley has added to its UK specialist equities team this year. Colwell, who starts at Morley in January, comes from Credit Suisse where he managed the Growth & Income fund and the Credit Suisse Managed Assets fund.
Unicorn Free Spirit
Smaller companies specialist, Chris Hutchinson, has become lead manager of the £23.2m Unicorn Free Spirit fund, which he had been running with Unicorn Asset Management's founder and chief investment officer Peter Webb since joining the firm in January 2006 from Montanaro Investment Managers.
Investec European
Investec Asset Management has decided to bring its European and GSF Continental European funds in-house. This comes after four years of poor returns under Albert Morillo at BlackRock International, who has been lead manager on the funds since they were outsourced to the company in April 2000. Both funds will be managed by Investec's 4Factor equity team when the change comes into effect on 1 January next year.
F&C High Income
F&C's Stephen Dolbear will pass the firm's High Income fund to Christopher Childs and Stephen Crewe in January, although the product's mandate will remain unchanged.
Launched in 1993, the fund initially targeted an income yield of 10% but, when that proved difficult to sustain, Dolbear altered its remit to target cash plus 2% when he became manager in 1993.
Having joined from Swiss Bank Corporation, where he was a derivatives specialist, Dolbear will now focus on F&C's hedge fund business.
When the fund first launched, F&C aimed to raise £50m but actually attracted closer to £0.5bn. With £321m now managed within High Income, the group plans to begin marketing the product more heavily in the New Year.
The manager change coincides with the portfolio's conversion to Ucits III rules, although as the fund already uses derivatives the conversion will have little impact on its mandate.
Childs, who has worked alongside Dolbear and Crewe for the past 10 years, said the fund's use of derivatives will become more transparent to investors. Childs said the portfolio invests in three asset classes, namely equities and bonds with a derivatives overlay. The equity exposure is maintained at between 30% and 35% of the portfolio, with fixed income investments focusing on government bonds and A-rated securities with a duration of around four years.
| 
